Self-Realization Fellowship

Self-Realization Fellowship in Encinitas, CA. See the butterfly! Pic by M.C.

I have driven by the Self-Realization Fellowship hundreds of times and I thought I must go visit.

Lotus Cafe in Encinitas, CA. Pic by M.C.

My hippy family member and I head to the Lotus Café first. The owners are also yogis. The décor is cheery with lots of windows and you can hear spiritual/philosophical conversations. I always order the grilled veggie salad that inspired my recipe. My only complaint is that the restaurant serves meat. There used to be many vegetarian restaurants in Encinitas. Something happened in the culture where vegetarians are accommodating carnivores. Vegetarian restaurants should help meat eaters learn to eat a vegetarian diet not help them to continue on a violent path.

Self-Realization Fellowship in front of bookstore. Pic by M.C.

I wanted to see the garden that my hippy family member has talked about through the years. He used to go to the rock garden and move the rocks. We walk up to the meditation gardens and there is a guard who explains not to use cameras. Hippy says it’s understandable or something like that. We walk up the steps as people are coming down. It’s a little busy and the vegetation is lush. From the cliffs, the ocean view is beautiful. Someone is meditating on one of the benches. I don’t know how with it being so busy. The pool is empty and looks like it has seen better days. One of the ponds is busy and people are taking photos.

People miss the point of enjoying the gardens when they have to take photos of it.

Through the years, my family has been friends with people who are SRFers, as we call them. They seemed to struggle with their mental or physical health. I suppose it draws a group of people who are looking for healing. And one of the ladies we knew called Jesus a prophet not God.

But reading the visitor’s guide and website the Self-Realization Fellowship makes more sense. The Hermitage and its grounds were given to Parmahansa Yogananda by a dedicated follower, James J. Lynn known as Rajarsi Janakananda. Parmahansa settled down because he thought he could reach more souls through his writing and classes to help them to know God.

SRF seems to put Parmahansa Yogananda and Jesus in a lineage of teachers. But upon further searching Jesus is considered the creator of Earth on one of the SRF websites. In the visitor’s guide, it is mentioned that Parmahansa explained in his book, “. . . how modern men and women can apply the timeless spiritual principles underlying all the great religions in order to awaken the infinite potentialities within themselves.”

All religion seems to have been infiltrated and gone a direction that wasn’t intended. At this time, all religion seems to have some truths and some lies. Somewhere on one of the websites, Parmahansa Yogananda talks about the teachings of the old Christianity. So perhaps his teachings are pure in its original form.

According to Ananda.org, Jesus is on the SRF altar because he appeared to Babaji to send someone to the West to spread the teachings of the original Christianity. That’s why Parmahansa Yogananda came to the West. Parmahansa Yogananda taught that Jesus started out as human and became one with God. The title “Christ” refers to the “Christ Consciousness” and is the highest state of consciousness.

So I was wondering if Christ’s ascension was something that we are supposed to attain. I also wondered if Parmahansa Yogananda ascended. He experienced mahasamadhi, which is the state a yogi enters when they consciously make the decision to leave their body, according to Google. But some Christians are waiting to be taken up. As I’ve mentioned before I don’t believe in the rapture since I’ve shown people have changed the Bible. Kerry Cassidy believes the Anunnaki changed the Bible. Perhaps Jesus showed us how to do the work and we missed it.

Yoga is supposedly a part of the secret knowledge that was given to us. From listening to Dark Journalist on YouTube there are two groups in the occult. One side wants to share the secret knowledge and the other side does not. This sounds like the white hats and the black hats. Perhaps these are the people who are causing all the friction today.

There is also always high strangeness with secret groups. For instance, sometimes a significant person’s birthdate is unknown so that one side of the occult can’t do an astrological chart on the person. I guess being able to predict one’s life is important in the battle with each other. I noticed one of the teachers, Mahavatar Babaji, didn’t have a birthdate and lots of details of his life are unknown. I’m not saying SRF is a secret group, but perhaps the teachers were the white hats or a souls trying to move humanity forward toward God.

Also some of the followers of Parmahansa Yogananda are famous people in Hollywood or leaders of corporations. And if you listen to Dark Journalist a lot of these people have an obsession with finding Atlantis. So again, I think many schools of thought start out as something good but then certain parasitical people come along and infiltrate.

And then what happens is terms like New Age are used in a derogatory manner and people will say Atlantis isn’t real it’s just New Age mumbo jumbo. The New Age term should probably be dropped because people who talk about topics that are spiritual don’t call themselves New Agers. And by the way, there are over 5,000 books on Atlantis. There is plenty of proof to read.

I remember in the 80s when the ufology movement started getting linked with New Age type people who weren’ t really the SRFers or spiritual people. And I saw a flyer at a Mufon meeting a couple years ago that reminded me of this.

It all feels like certain elite people have their fingers in every group so they can muddy the truth. Then everyone points the finger and says they’re right, you’re wrong. Instead, it’s a particular person coming in and starts trouble. Or is it?

It is also possible that these, for lack of a better term, black hats and white hats are reincarnating and have been fighting each other for eons. This is just my intuition. I believe Edgar Casey supports this that the Atlanteans are reincarnating now and dealing with same technology decisions.

I am currently reading Theosophy by Rudolf Steiner who was over thirty years older than Parmahansa Yogananda. In the book, he explains karma and reincarnation. The current information out there is definitely different than what Steiner is saying. Dark Journalist says in his “X-103” episode that Steiner explains scientific materialism as anything that can’t be weighed or measured doesn’t exist. Therefore, spirituality goes out the window. In the 1840s, mystery groups looked out because scientific materialism was adopted through Germany to America as the scientific rule.

I always think of Rudolf Steiner when people say science is real. Which side of the mystery school science are they talking about?

Perhaps an African tulip tree? Pic by M.C.

On a lighter note. . .

The orange tree caught my eye. It is fern-like and reminds me of a jacaranda, but they come in purple or yellow. I think the tree may be an African tulip tree (Spathodea), which does come in orange with tulip-shaped flowers. Jacaranda flowers are longer and smaller. It’s hard to tell from my photo.

Self-Realization Fellowship Meditation Gardens • 215 W. K Street (between 2nd and 3rd Streets) • Encinitas, CA • 92024 • (760) 753-2888 (They are temporary closed. California CV numbers have gone up, but I haven’t seen or heard about anyone being sick.)

Happy Vegan!

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Copyright 2021 Melissa Crismon